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Primary Source Report : Trial Of Madeleine Smith Essay

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PRIMARY SOURCE REPORT – TRIAL OF MADELEINE SMITH
F.Tennyson Jesse (ed.), Trial of Madeleine Smith [Call number is Law Q60 SM12] [contains a transcript of a selection of Madeleine Smith’s letters] – Extract, pp 305-337 of Correspondence.

Public respectability and social status was a key requisite in upper-middle-class Victorian Britain. Another significant cultural characteristic of nineteenth century Britain was the importance of family as a source in identifying a socially and economically fitting marriage partner for middle class women. Gordon and Nair argue that even though individuals had the choice of marriage partner it was not an unhindered choice. The social separation of classes made it improbable that an inappropriate match would be encountered, however even in the contained social circles of the middle classes, when the system of self-regulation failed, parental influence came into play. Possibly the best example of this mismatch of culture and class can be seen in the notorious court case of Madeleine Smith and Emile L’Angelier and their scandalous love affair that led to Smith being tried for his murder and acquitted on a “not proven” verdict.

The 1927 book “The Trial of Madeleine Smith”, by feminist writer, journalist and playwright F Tennyson Jesse contains the full transcripts of Smith’s private letters to her lover from 1855 to 1856. These transcripts formed the basis of evidence against Smith at her trial. In comparison to other kinds of written

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